Dries Riphagen

Dries Riphagen

Bernardus Andreas (Dries) Riphagen (7 September 1909 - 13 May 1973) was a Dutch criminal who collaborated with the Germans during World War II.

Life

Youth and path to crime

Dries Riphagen was born as the 11th child of an Amsterdam family, his father worked for the Navy. Riphagen's mother died when he was six years old, and his father married a second time but did not care for the children because he was an alcoholic. At the age of 14 Dries Riphagen came to the notorious training center of the merchant shipping Pollux and drove from 1923 to 1924 as lightmatrose at sea. Subsequently, he stayed in contact with the local criminal circles for two years in the United States, where he worked for Standard Oil, and took a look at their methods. It is from this time that his later nickname Al Capone came from.^[1]

After his return from the United States, Riphagen joined the National Socialist Nederlandsche Arbeiderspartij (NSNAP), an extremely anti-Semitic minority whose aim was that the Netherlands became a province of the German Reich. He became one of the foremost figures of the Amsterdam underworld, the pimp on the Rembrandtplein, developed a taste for jewelery, jewels, and gambling, and used partly - stolen - used cars.^[1]

During the German occupation

During the Second World War, Riphagen not only continued his criminal activities but expanded them in profitable cooperation with the German occupiers as a trustworthy German SD and later as a member of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam. It was his task, together with his "colleagues" from the Amsterdam underworld, to uncover black trade as well as to track down Jewish property, which was to be passed by the German foreign exchange regulations. As a bonus, the men received five to ten percent of the confiscated goods, but they also left many values in their pockets.^[1]

Dries Riphagen soon took part in the "Judenjagd", together with members of the Olij family, who were regarded as feared "Jodenkloppers". From 1943 he was part of the column Henneicke, a group of investigators who searched for submerged Jews. This approximately fifty-headed group was founded in 1942 by Wim Henneicke, the stateless son of a German immigrant; From March 4 to March 31, 1943, the column, which consisted mainly of professional criminals, delivered 3190 Jews to the German authorities, who were deported to the extermination camps. There was a per person reward from 7.50 to 40 florins paid. By the end of 1943, Riphagen collected a small fortune, which he deposited on accounts in Belgium and Switzerland. The column also extorted Jewish men with the threat of deportation to betray other submerged. Finally the column Henneicke was dissolved because of corruption. Riphagen was in the last year of the war for the group Hoffmann of the SD in Assen, which was specialized in the detection of Allied submerged Allied pilots and weapons.^[1]

After the war

After the war Dries Riphagen was searched for the betrayal of Jews and was regarded by the public prosecutor as responsible for the death of at least 200 people. Riphagen contacted Enschede, the former resistance fighter and policeman, Willem Evert Sanders, who wanted to trade with him. Riphagen was not handed over to the official authorities, but was placed under house-arrest as a "private" prisoner in exchange of information on collaborators and German-speaking networks. In February 1946 he escaped; According to rumors, he was helped across the border by his underworld friends in a human carcass inside a casket. According to recent findings, the flight was organized by two staff members of the Dutch secret service Bureau Nationale Veiligheid, Frits and Piet Kerkhoven. From Belgium, he went to Spain after three months of trying to get his son Rob.^[2]

In May 1946, Riphagen was held in Huesca, Spain, because he lacked the necessary personal papers. He was imprisoned in the jail, but on the bail of a Jesuit priest from the Institute of the King of Christ and the High Priest, released on bail, with the order to have his papers rectified. Thereupon he got a Nansen pass, and Frits Kerkhoven provided him with clothes and shoes with diamonds hidden by Riphagen near Kerkhoven. When the Dutch judiciary found him - he now stayed in Madrid - he flew to Argentina on 21 March 1948 with a friend. His contact address there was also that of a Jesuit father; But nothing is known of a possible connection with the so-called "rat lines". The Dutch Ambassador in Buenos Aires, Floris Carcilius Anne Baron van Pallandt, made a request for extradition, which was however only based on offenses such as car theft and robbery, which, according to the Argentine judiciary, was already time-barred and for which the submitted evidence was too small.^[1]

The fact that Riphagen was not handed over to the Netherlands was most likely due to his good relations. He was friends with a member of the Argentine Supreme Court, Rodolfo Valenzuela, who also served as secretary to President Juan Perón. As a result, he became acquainted with the Presidential couple and kept contact with Perón until his death. He settled in Belgrano, a district of Buenos Aires, where he ran a photography press office and worked for Perón's secret service. He also organized boxing competitions at the Lunapark for Jan Olij, his old friend from Amsterdamer times.^[1]

After the Revolucion Libertadora, where Perón was overthrown, Riphagen returned to Europe and traveled around, mainly in Spain, Germany and Switzerland. He preferred to surround himself with wealthy women, who also entertained him. His last known address was an address in Madrid. In 1973, Dries Riphagen, the "worst war criminal in Amsterdam", died of cancer in Montreux.^[1]

Coming to terms with the past

In 2010 the two Dutch journalists and employees of the newspaper Het Parool, Bart Middelburg and René ter Steege published the book Riphagen, 'Al Capone', één van Nederlands grootste oorlogsmisdadigers. The book is based on interviews with the son of Dries Riphagen, Rob, and Betje Wery, who had worked with the Germans.^[3]

In 2013, VPRO broadcast a TV series on Dries Riphagen, the main character being portrayed by actor Jeroen van Koningsbrugge. The script of the series is based on the book of Middelburg and ter Steege.^[1]

In 2016 the film Riphagen by director Pieter Kuijpers was produced in the Netherlands according to a screenplay by Thomas van der Ree and Paul Jan Nelisse; The lead role again played Jeroen van Koningsbrugge.^[4]

References